Reed and shuttle guide for gripper looms



Jan. 11, 1955 F. J. PUSATERI 2,699,185

REED AND SHUTTLE GUIDE FOR GRIPPER LOOMS Filed April 1, 1953 FIG. I

INVENTOR FRANCESCO J. PUSATERI 62W. "FM

ATTORNEY United States Patent REED AND SHUTTLE GUIDE FOR GRIPPER LOOMS Francesco J. Pusateri, Worcester, Mass., assignor to Crompton & Knowles Loom Works, Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application April 1, 1953, Serial No. 346,238

6 Claims. (Cl. 139-188) This invention relates to improvements in reeds and shuttle guides for those types of looms which operate with a shuttle to draw weft from an outside stationary supply or cone through a warp shed.

Looms of the general class to which this invention relates ordinarily employ some form of shuttle guide which defines a path for the shuttle through the warp shed. This guide is usually made so that it moves into and out of the shed, moving into the shed just prior to picking of the shuttle and moving out of the shed upon completion of shuttle flight and just prior to beat-up by the reed. Movement of the guides into and out of the shed is a very rapid motion and causes objectionable vibration.

It is the general object of the invention to provide a combined shuttle guide and reed composed principally of two sets of parts one of which is a stationary group of guide plates and the other of which is an oscillating reed the dents of which move between the guide plates. The reed is so made that it provides the lower part of the guideway for the shuttle and the plates provide the upper part of it. When the reed is in its normal rearward position the two sets of parts define the guideway for the shuttle and after the shuttle has passed out of the guideway the reed moves forwardly so that a beat-up edge behind and preferably forming part of the guideway will beat-up a thread left in the guideway by the shuttle.

It is a further object of the invention to provide the guide plates with 2. depending part which extends through the top sheet of warp threads forward of the aforesaid beat-up edge when the reed is in its normal rear position. By this arrangement a space is left between the guide plates and the reed dents so that a thread moving to the top shed will not be obliged to have the same part of its length move between adjacent guide plates and also between adjacent reed dents.

It is a still further object of the invention to have those parts of the guide plates behind the aforesaid space located between the reed dents but above the top shed. As the warp threads move to the top shed therefore they are not required to pass between these parts of the guide plates and the reed dents.

In order that the invention may be clearly understood reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate by way of example the embodiments of the invention and in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic front elevation of a loom having the invention applied thereto,

Fig. 2 is an enlarged view looking in the direction of arrow 2, Fig. 1, certain of the parts being omitted and showing the reed in its normal rearward non-beat-up position and indicating a shuttle in flight,

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the reed in its beat-up position subsequent to shuttle flight, and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary view of the upper right hand part of Fig. 2 indicating the guideway for the shuttle defined by the stationary guide plates and the reed when the latter is in rear position.

Referring particularly to Fig. 1, the loom comprises loomsides 1 and 2 which may be held together by the usual cross members (not shown). Extending across the loom is a shuttle guide support 3 secured to the loomsides, as by bolts 4. The underside of the guide support 3 has set thereinto a number of parallel vertical preferably metallic thin shuttle guide plates 5 which may be secured to the support 3 above the warp shed in any approved manner, as by being soldered or otherwise secured in 2,699,185 Patented Jan. 11, 1955 slots cut in the under side of the support. Each guide plate, as shown more particularly in Figs. 3 and 4, has a downwardly facing lower edge 6 which may extend more or less parallel to but above the top sheet W1 of warp threads. The edge 6 leads forwardly to a more steeply inclined rearwardly facing edge 7 which leads to a substantially horizontal downwardly facing substantially straight bottom edge 8 extending forwardly to a rounded nose 9 which may project downwardly a slight distance below the bottom edge 8. If desired a small warp thread receiving slot 10 may be cut upwardly into the guide plate 5 to receive a misplaced warp thread moving toward the top shed. The guide plates are in fixed position and their lower parts on which the edges 7, 8 and nose 9 are formed project downwardly through and to a position below the top warp sheet WI. The plates extend in a back and forth direction substantially parallel to the warp threads.

The combined reed and shuttle guide is designated gen erally at 15 and includes a shaft 16 to which are keyed the hubs 17 of upwardly extending arms 18. The tops of these arms have secured thereto a reed bar or carrier 19 to which is secured a number of spaced reed dents 20. These dents may be somewhat thicker than the guide plates 5 and are set into the reed bar 19 in any approved manner, such as being soldered into transverse slots cut in the top of bar 19. The latter is secured to the arms 18 by bolts or other suitable means 21 so that the reed dents, bar 19, arms 18 and shaft 16 can rock as a unit in the loom. Parts of the reed dents will always be located in spaces 22 between the guide plates 5 so that the two sets of thin metallic parts 5 and 20 will always have overlapping relation.

As shown more particularly in Fig. 2, the upper part of each reed dent has an upwardly facing top edge 25 which is above the edge 6 of the guide plate 5 and this top edge 25 extends forwardly and then downwardly to a forwardly facing beat-up edge 26 which is rearward of the edge 7 of the guide plates when the reed is dwelling in the normal non-beat-up rear position thereof shown in Fig. 2.

From the beat-up edge 26 there extends forwardly an upwardly facing shuttle supporting edge 27 above the bottom warp sheet W2 leading forwardly to an upwardly projecting nose 28 which will normally be above edge 27 and warp sheet W2 and spaced slightly below the nose 9 of the fixed guide plates 5. A warp thread slot 30 to receive a misplaced thread of the bottom warp sheet W2,

similar to slot 10, may extend downwardly from the subitantlitally horizontal edge 27, as shown for instance in When the guide plates and reed dents are in their normal position as shown in Fig. 4 with the reed in rear position the edge 8 and nose 9 of the guide plates and the nose 28, edge 27 and the lower part at least of the beat-up edge 26 will define a shuttle guideway designated herein generally at G.

There will ordinarily be fewer guide plates than reed dents, as shown in Fig. 1, but if the guide plates are close enough, such as three to the inch, they will be able adequately to define the top of the guideway G.

When the parts are in the position shown in Fig. 4 a shuttle S, indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 1, will be picked out of its shuttle box B to draw filling thread F from a weft package P and will travel through the guideway G and drag the filling F behind it. During flight of the shuttle the reed will dwell in rear position, but as soon as the shuttle flight has been completed and the shuttle has reached the box B1 on the opposite side of the loom the shaft 16 will then rock in a clockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 2 to move the reed from its normal dwelling non-beat-up position shown in Fig. 2 to the beat-up position shown in Fig. 3. During this forward motion of the reed the filling F is moved forwardly under the stationary guide plates and is then beaten into the fell of the cloth C by the beat-up edge 26. When the reed is in its foremost position however the upper rear part 32 of its dents will overlap forward parts of the guide plates 5 and will therefore remain in register with the spaces between the guide plates. The reed will then return to its normal rearward position and a new warp shed will be formed.

It is not thought necessary to illustrate mechanism for rocking the reed first forwardly, and then rearwardly, and then maintaining the reed in dwell position. Conjugate earns (not shown) are commonly used for this purpose to rock the shaft 16.

When the reed heats up the nose 28 will swing downwardly to clear the cloth C as the reed approaches its forward beat-up position, and only the lower parts of the mechanism forming the guideway G need move under the cloth, since the upper part of the guideway formed by plates 5 are stationary and does not move forwardly.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the invention sets forth a simple combined beat-up reed and shuttle guide employing the stationary guide plates 5 the forward lower parts of which, such as edge 8 and nose 9, project down through the top warp sheet W1 to define the upper part of guideway G. It will also be seen that the edge 27 and nose 28 and part of beat-up edge 26 of the reed form the bottom and rear of the guideway. The noses 9 and 28 project toward each other sufficiently to prevent accidental escape of the shuttle from the guideway and assist in forming the guideway. When the reed beats up its dents slide between the guide plates 5 and the beat-up edge 26 advances the filling F to the fell of the cloth C. For all back and forth positions of the reed some part of its dents will overlap parts of the guide plates. It will further be noted that the edges 7 of the plates 5 are forward of the beat-up edges 26 when the reed dwells in rear position, and that the edges 7 extend upwardly from the top warp sheet W1 to the edge 6 which is permanently above the top warp threads. Because of this relation warp threads may be moved up to and down from the top warp sheet W1 when the reed is in rear position without requiring the same part of the warp thread to pass between the reed dents and also between the guide plates.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. In a shuttle guide and beat-up device for a loom operating with a shuttle to draw weft from a stationary supply into a warp shed defined by upper and lower sheets of warp threads, a plurality of thin stationary guide plates supported above the warp shed having parts thereof projecting downwardly through the top sheet of warp threads, a reciprocating reed having dents which dwell in rear position, then have a beat-up stroke and then return to rear position, a shuttle supporting edge on each dent which projects upwardly through the bottom sheet of warp threads when the reed is in rear position, and a beat-up edge on each dent rearward of and extending upwardly from the supporting edge, said parts of the guide plates and said edges of the dents forming a shuttle guideway in the warp shed when the reed is dwelling in rear position.

2. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said guide plates have a downwardly and forwardly extending edge overlapping the reed dents and permanently located above the top sheet of warp threads.

3. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein the guide plates have downwardly extending noses on the forward parts thereof and the reed dents have upwardly extending noses below and spaced from the noses of the guide plates when the reed is in rear position, said noses assisting in defining the guideway for the shuttle.

4. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein said parts of the guide plates have edges extending upwardly at the rear part thereof forward of said beat-up edges when the reed is in rear position.

5. The structure set forth in claim 1 wherein the reed dents are so related with respect to the guide plates that parts of the reed dents overlap parts of the guide plates for all back and forth positions of the reed.

6. The structure set forth in claim I wherein each guide plate has a downwardly facing forwardly and downwardly inclined edge above the top sheet of warp threads leading to a second more steeply inclined downwardly and rear- Wardly extending edge which crosses the top sheet of warp threads and is located forward of said beat-up edges of the reed dents when the latter are in rear position.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,095,576 Shimwell Oct. 12, 1937 2,248,641 Moessinger July 8, 1941 2,316,703 Moessinger Apr. 13, 1943 

